Beavers!

By Joseph F. Parda

In a remote cabin, a couple playing kinky sex games are assaulted by unknown assailants...In the lonely woods, a man and his dog fight for survival against a monstrous foe...In the dirty backwaters, trappers fall prey to the very creatures they are trained to hunt...In the town, the streets run red as mass slaughter spreads like the plague.

Gary Cage came to Beaver Ridge with his young son to escape the horrors of city life and the demons that haunted him. Little did he realize that the sleepy, vacation town had been overrun by ravenous, mutant creatures seemingly released from the bowels of Hell. Soon, he would find himself fighting not only for the lives of himself and his family, but for the entire human race. He would also discover a new word for horror...Beavers!

"Reminiscent of the 1970’s animal-rebellion horror movies. If you like escaping into a scary book with some humor as well, then definitely read Beavers!"
~ D.F. Holland, Author of “Tales from the Beaumont House.”

"This book is the embodiment (and sometimes disembodiment!) of blood, gore, excitement, and sheer terror. I’d love to see it on the silver screen in 3-D. Bloody awesome!"
~ Mary VanMeer, VirtualAssistantGazette

• Language: English
• Publisher: Joseph F. Parda
• Release date: Dec 18, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310034138

Joseph F. Parda

Joseph F. Parda was born in the garden spot of the world - Brooklyn, USA. A modern renaissance man, he has been artistically active as a writer, fanzine editor, and award winning filmmaker. Parda has held traditional jobs as varied as soda jerk, short order cook, and management positions in multi-million dollar corporations. His life-long fascination with horror, science fiction, exploitation and cult culture has now rendered him unfit for conventional employment. BEAVERS! is his first novel.

Book preview

Prologue

In the Beginning…

I.

Gunfire sounded like a miniature sonic boom, Jimmy thought, as he ran for his life through the darkened woods. It also smelled a lot different than he had originally imagined. More like a chemistry lab than a fireworks show. Why these ridiculous impressions entered his mind at this particular juncture was anyone’s guess. Usually they came to him in a more meditative time. Like after smoking a joint or finishing a video game. They probably helped him to keep his mind off the fact that someone was trying to kill him, he reasoned, and kept his feet from tripping over themselves. He was aware of the fact that his lungs were starting to burn, and that no matter how hard he pushed his legs to run faster he was beginning to slow down and stagger. Having to admit to yourself that you are not in the best of shape is not a good thing with potential trained killers in hot pursuit, he thought, as his eyes searched for the lonely road where the woods ended. Or started, depending on your point of view. The station wagon was parked there. I’ll never call that piece of shit a piece of shit again, so help me God, he silently vowed, if only I could reach that car. Then another thought; how did I get myself into this mess? But he already knew the answer to that question.

It was only a little over an hour ago that all was still right with the world. The Infernal Trio, as they had so named themselves, had just parked The Freedom Wagon off to the side of the road. The threesome consisted of Jimmy Kwan and the Boykin twins – Sam and Samantha. Freedom fighters on a mission, at least that’s how the twins saw it. Jimmy really didn’t know if they believed it. They were pretty good with the put-ons. He had never totally bought in. He knew what they really were – high school seniors looking for a thrill. He was just along for the ride, acting as driver and lookout on their latest merry scheme. There had been others but this one actually had the potential of getting them some notoriety, if the info was correct. It could also be a dangerous. Fame didn’t interest him much, the danger part a little bit. His life was pretty boring, and anything that got him out from behind his computer was okay by him, especially if Samantha was involved.

Jimmy had met the twins in his sophomore year. They were transfers from some snooty school in Connecticut. He knew immediately that they were different. The way they carried themselves. Acted. Spoke. Behaved.

Fate had smiled on him that day when they sat in the two empty desks next to his. That’s how he liked to view it. He didn’t like to think that the desks were empty because none of his fellow classmates wanted to sit with the strange Asian science geek. But the S & S twins did and his world changed.

Samantha described her brother and herself as third generation hippies out to do some good in a very bad world. They certainly didn’t dress like hippies. Not a pair of bellbottom jeans in sight. She had told him that he scored some brownie points with the two of them by showing up at school wearing a white headband straight out of the 1960’s. He had found it on eBay and it got him his first kiss, if only on the cheek, from the girl he was quickly falling for.

Sam was definitely the ringleader of the group, a highly impulsive type who bounced from one activity to another like a rubber ball on a handball court. Jimmy at one point thought he had ADHD. The flaw in his hypothesis was that Sam never had trouble focusing his attention on organizing or completing a task. Learning something new was also no issue. He just got bored with things after awhile. Was he some sort of savant? A genius? His sister certainly thought so. Jimmy wasn’t so sure. And he was too lazy to check Sam’s symptoms on Wikipedia for a more definitive answer.

Hacking into computers was the latest gig that Sam had mastered. It started as a joke. Trying to change a C- to a B- in his sister’s English class. Samantha had written her finals thesis on Poe’s Fall of the House of Usher and was devastated when she got a grade below her usual standards. She didn’t think the instructor understood what she was attempting to say. Her brother, of course, took her side on the matter and told her he planned to do something about it. Samantha warned him that she didn’t want a repeat of the fire stunt in the school auditorium. Neither did Jimmy. If they had been caught they would have either been suspended or maybe even expelled. Sam told her not to worry, that petty acts of vandalism would not get her grade changed. He had other ways to accomplish that. And he did. When Samantha got her report card and saw the modification she first wondered if her instructor had a change of heart. But she knew better. This was her brother’s doing.

Soon after, both Jimmy and Samantha got a crash course on how to hack into databases and websites from Sam. Jimmy understood some of it and so did Samantha. Neither was as advanced, or as interested in the subject, as Sam. You could see the thrill of it all in his face when he broke through a firewall. It almost bordered on mania. Like everything, what started small then began to escalate. Wiping out a few absences from school, getting free music, movies, and games were no longer enough. He promised that he was going to use this newfound skill for good not ill. When Jimmy joked about him turning into a super villain he could see that Sam was genuinely offended. He got a stern look, and later a small lecture, from Samantha, admonishing him about how he should know the two of them better. He was fairly certain that he had a bead on her. The brother? Not so much.

It turned out that Sam’s act of benevolence was not going to be for mankind itself but, instead, for their pets. Seems he had hacked some government agency that was doing experimental lab work on animals. Trying to make them stronger. More aggressive. The conspiracy theorist in him claimed that the military was most likely involved even though there was no documentation to back this up. He rambled on about how the drugs they were working with would ultimately be distributed to human soldiers. Jimmy thought Sam had watched one too many sci-fi movies when he heard this. Samantha was at first indignant, since animal cruelty was one of her pet causes, but then cautious with the mention of government/military participation. Sam eased her fears on the latter by saying that there hadn’t been any activity at the lab as of late. Which might indicate that the place had been shut down or the testing aborted. That’s why they needed to take a road trip out there to check it out. If it was still occupied they would observe from a distance and formulate a plan. If it was abandoned they would try a little b&e. See if they could find some solid evidence. Videotape it. Upload it to YouTube. Have it become a viral sensation, and become the media darlings of the moment.

The twins looked to Jimmy for an indication of his involvement. Sam had that manic look in his eyes. There was no reasoning with him. Jimmy could see that Samantha had totally bought in and was super psyched about the whole endeavor. A negative response on his part could irrevocably damage their friendship. Not to mention their, as of yet, unconsummated love life. Jimmy had no choice. He was in.

The drive upstate had been uneventful. It consisted of going over the plan, small talk, and introspection. The former consisted of two options. If the facility showed signs of being occupied they would be cautious and just treat this as a reconnaissance mission. Observation only. If it was unoccupied or abandoned then they would try to break in and gather proof of wrongdoing. Jimmy would act as lookout and wheelman. The twins would do the heavy lifting as they put it. Jimmy thought about offering to help with the burglarizing but he knew he would be shot down. This is how the two of them had wanted this to roll. They were out for kicks and by God they were going to get them.

As for the introspection, Jimmy could only speak for himself. The twins were only focused on the job at hand as far as he could tell. He wondered if they thought about anything other than beyond tonight. Jimmy had. Like what if they actually pulled this off. Outed some secret government program. Created a media controversy. And then got caught. It happened to that kid who leaked those government wiretaps. And he was a computer genius. Sam was good but not in that guy’s league. The FBI had found him. Last thing he heard the guy was living in Russia. Jimmy had watched the Winter Olympics from Sochi just a few weeks ago. The Soviet Union looked pretty damned cold. It also seemed to be filled with packs of roving dogs. He would have to look into getting a proper winter coat when they got back home. And a leash.

ETA was midnight. They pulled off the small stretch of road when they reached their destination at approximately 12:20am. Just about the time their parents would be wondering what time that rock show they were supposed to be attending would be over. The trio had dressed in black for the occasion but nixed the idea of blackening their faces. Samantha noted the political incorrectness of that gesture. They opted for ski masks instead.

The wagon was parked, and hidden, in a sylvan area just off the roadway. The facility was on the opposite side of where the group was and could only be reached by walking through a thickly-wooded area. Sam figured that the cover of the night, along with the dense foliage, would camouflage them well. He had almost cackled with glee when he saw the woodlands bordering the facility on his interactive computer map of the region. Everything seemed to be falling into place. All the ducks were in a row. He suddenly couldn’t think of another cliché. That’s how excited he was.

The trio exited the station wagon in silence and began their trek through the woods. Sam led the way, followed by his sister, with Jimmy bringing up the rear. For a group evidently concerned with stealth they were making a good deal of racket. It seemed that someone would be stepping on a broken branch or dead leaf with every footfall. Sam stopped, raised his index finger to his lips, and mouthed the word quiet to his two compañeros. The three restarted, but were mindful to step a bit more gingerly through the thicket. This tack was more effective but incredibly tedious. Jimmy could no longer hear his footsteps but instead his heart rapidly beating in his chest. He almost breathed a sigh of relief when he saw artificial light up ahead in the distance. They were coming to the end of the tall timber.

When they finally exited on the other side, after what seemed an interminable walk, they saw the facility. A white, single-story, brick building that didn’t seem at all intimidating. A rusting chain-link fence that had seen better days surrounded it. A yellow metal sign stating Private Property Keep Out hung on it. Sam reached behind himself, zipped open a pocket on the backpack he was wearing, and produced a pair of binoculars. Raising them to his eyes, brows furrowed in concentration, he scanned the area that lay before the trio. After a few moments he lowered the spyglass, handed it to his sister, smiled, and put up two fingers. Option two, Jimmy thought: breaking in. Samantha looked through the binoculars for a short time before quietly high-fiving her brother and handing the optical instrument to Jimmy. When he first looked through the binoculars he was not surprised to see they were a high-tech night-vision pair. Nothing but the best for Sam. Scanning the green-tinted landscape in front of him, Jimmy saw no signs of human life. The small parking lot was vacant. No lights were on inside the building. What seemed to be a small security guard station at the gate’s entrance was empty. The only lighting visible was some bare fluorescent bulbs above the back and side entries. They had approached the structure from the rear and Jimmy could only see the back and sides. The front was not visible but it certainly looked abandoned. He removed the binoculars from his eyes and gave the twins what he thought was a half-hearted thumbs up sign. The brother and sister duo returned his signal and readied themselves. The plan was in motion.

Jimmy watched as the twins left the darkened sanctuary of the woods and stepped out into the arms of the waiting night. They moved forward without hesitation and the dark seemed to swallow them. Jimmy’s heart began to beat faster again as he raised the binoculars to his eyes. He breathed easier when he spotted the pair moving slowly towards the chain-link fence. As they neared it he held his breath, because now the cloak of darkness shrouding them would be lifted as they stepped into the sickly yellow glow of the lampposts that dimly illuminated the facility. They seemed to sense this also. For when they reached the front gate they hesitated, and swiveled their heads from side to side, surveying their surroundings. Sam got out the bolt cutters and with one swift snap the padlock dropped and the gates were swinging wide.

The twins were now officially trespassing as they stepped through the gate and swiftly made their way towards the back door of the facility. Jimmy watched it all go down in green. The night-vision tint of the binoculars making it seem like a found footage movie, or a celebrity porno tape.

He knew Sam was about to jimmy the door and once the twins got inside he would be able to do nothing but wait. That might be the hardest part. Wondering what was going on inside. They didn’t bring their cells because Sam wanted to maintain radio silence throughout the operation. Jimmy wasn’t crazy about that idea. Even if he saw something he wouldn’t be able to warn them. With that thought in mind he shifted his attention off the twins, who were still working on getting the door open, and focused on the rest of the facility. Parking lot, all clear. Inside the building, no movement detected. Security guard station, nothing. He even scanned the area outside the fencing. All quiet.

When Jimmy focused the binoculars again on the back door he didn’t expect the twins to be there. But they were. Sam still hadn’t gotten them inside yet. What was the problem? Jimmy felt the hairs stand on the back of his neck as a wind suddenly kicked up. He didn’t like this. All was moderately quiet before but now this wind was playing with him. Rustling leaves. Snapping branches. An inconvenient truth abruptly slammed into the forefront of his brain. This wind wasn’t strong enough to snap…

The binoculars swung towards the sound as if moved by an unknown force. It had come from the woods directly behind the empty security guard station. Jimmy focused on the spot just in time to see what he thought was a glint of metal disappear in the darkness. He hurriedly pointed back to the twins